Peter Foy, the founder of “Flying By Foy”, who revolutionized stage flying with the development of the “Inter-related Pendulum System” for the original Broadway production of the musical Peter Pan in 1954, died February 17th in Las Vegas, Nevada, of natural causes. He was 79.
Peter was born on June 11, 1925 in London, England. As a child, he was fascinated by James M. Barrie’s tale of Peter Pan, a story and character that would profoundly alter the course of his life.
At the age of 15, Foy first flew on a slim steel wire in a production of Where The Rainbow Ends, in which he performed the character of “the Sea Witch”. When the show’s stage manager was hospitalized, he also assumed those duties, which included the supervision of Kirby’s Flying Machines and the flying actors. He continued to act on stage and in film, joining the Royal Air Force in 1942 as a Navigator and Entertainment Officer.
After the war and the completion of his military service, he went to work for Joseph Kirby, a move that eventually brought Peter to New York as the flying supervisor for a 1950 Broadway production of Peter Pan, starring Jean Arthur and Boris Karloff. He began to experiment with and refine the Kirby equipment, redesignimg the Compound Drum and eventually linking two of the systems together at a single suspension point, which he called the “Inter-related Pendulum”. This innovation made possible the soaring aerial choreography that helped define Mary Martin’s signature performance as Peter Pan for the 1954 Broadway musical, and for the live NBC telecast of the show in 1956.
Peter left Kirby to form his own company, “Flying By Foy”, in 1957.
The creation of the Inter-Related Pendulum ushered in an era of spectacular, highly controlled, free flight, but required operators with a high degree of skill and a minimum 40 feet of ceiling height in order to create a natural-looking, effective pendulum swing. Foy solved the problem of flying actors in low height situations with the invention of the Floating Pulley in 1958. While this development was highly effective, the device was often visible to the audience.
His determination to preserve the magic of theatrical flight by concealing its apparatus from the audience’s view led to his introduction of the patented Track on Track® system in 1962, which allows two operators to independently control lift and travel. Since that time, Foy has improved upon the basic concept of Track on Track®, most notably with the patented Inter-Reacting Compensator® system, developed for touring productions of the Ice Capades.
Throughout his lifetime, Peter Foy applied his artistic vision and mechanical ingenuity to the challenge of safely flying performers in a variety of different and often difficult circumstances. His creation of the Multi-Point Balance Harness for the 1965 movie Fantastic Voyage set a standard still used today for flying actors on film; he pioneered the use of self-contained truss systems for touring shows, and also introduced the first self-contained radio-controlled flying system at the “Flower Expo” in Osaka, Japan in 1990.
Over the past half-century, he single-handedly revolutionized methods and techniques used in stage flying that had remained virtually unchanged for 2,000 years. Perhaps this is one reason the Health and Safety Codes Commission of the United States Institute of Theatre Technology presented to Peter Foy the 1990 International Entertainment Safety Award “for his singular, personal and creative contributions to safeguarding human life during a period of 50 years in the entertainment industry and elevating the task of flying people with rigging to an art form”.
“Flying By Foy” has provided theatrical flying effects for thousands of stage productions, musicals, operas, ballets, rock concerts, film and television shows worldwide. The company has flown three Broadway productions of Peter Pan (with Mary Martin in 1954, Sandy Duncan in 1979, and Cathy Rigby in 1990) and originated the flying for Superman, Angels in America, Tommy, Aida and The Lion King, among others.
Foy flew Nadia Comaneci from the NASDAQ Building 170’ over Times Square for the 2004 Olympic Torch Relay Event in New York and created flying effects for the opening ceremonies at the Olympic Games in Athens. Recent Broadway projects include Man of LaMancha and Dracula the Musical. Foy flying effects are also featured in two upcoming Broadway shows: Spamalot, the stage musical adaptation of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
He is survived by his wife, Barbara Foy; son Garry S. Foy, daughter Teresa Foy McGeough, and two grandchildren: Daniel and James McGeough. Services are scheduled for 12:00 noon, Sunday, February 27th at Palm Mortuary, 7600 S. Eastern Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89123. Phone: (702) 464-8500. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: The Actors’ Fund of America, 729 Seventh Avenue, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10019. Phone: (212) 221-7300, or visit the website at http://www.actorsfund.org
